The Biology Of Religious Behavior

Author : Jay R. Feierman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313364311
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Biology of Religious Behavior written by Jay R. Feierman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-06-08 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a fresh and detailed take on the evolution of religious behavior from a biobehavioral perspective, promoting a new understanding that may help build bridges across the religious divide. There has been much recent interest in the study of religion from the perspective of Darwinian evolution. The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion offers a broad overview of the topic, written by internationally recognized experts. In addition to its primary focus on religious behavior, the book addresses other important aspects of religion, such as values, beliefs, and emotions as they affect behavior. The contributors approach the evolution of religion by examining the behavior of individuals in their everyday lives. After describing various religious behaviors, the contributors consider the behaviors with reference to their evolutionary history, development during the lifetime of the individual, proximate causes, and adaptive value. Happily, this foray into understanding religion from a biobehavioral perspective demonstrates that, at the biological and behavioral levels, what unites the different religions of the world is far greater than what divides them.

Author : Eckart Voland
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior written by Eckart Voland and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.

Author : Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317799046
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience written by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because society is increasingly secular, it may seem irrelevant to consider the psychology of religion. But the diversity of our multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society in fact makes religion more important to the social sciences than it has ever been before. What are the social consequences of religion? Every day the news is full of events that can be blamed on religion perpetrated by a range of groups from whole societies to individuals. Beit-Hallami and Argyle are renowned for their clear, analytical approach to topics and this new, state-of-the-art study of psychology and religion is no exception. It will be welcomed as an update to their previous work in the area by social psychologists, sociologists and theologians worldwide.

Author : Justin L. Barrett
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439196575
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Born Believers written by Justin L. Barrett and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infants have a lot to make sense of in the world: Why does the sun shine and night fall; why do some objects move in response to words, while others won’t budge; who is it that looks over them and cares for them? How the developing brain grapples with these and other questions leads children, across cultures, to naturally develop a belief in a divine power of remarkably consistent traits––a god that is a powerful creator, knowing, immortal, and good—explains noted developmental psychologist and anthropologist Justin L. Barrett in this enlightening and provocative book. In short, we are all born believers. Belief begins in the brain. Under the sway of powerful internal and external influences, children understand their environments by imagining at least one creative and intelligent agent, a grand creator and controller that brings order and purpose to the world. Further, these beliefs in unseen super beings help organize children’s intuitions about morality and surprising life events, making life meaningful. Summarizing scientific experiments conducted with children across the globe, Professor Barrett illustrates the ways human beings have come to develop complex belief systems about God’s omniscience, the afterlife, and the immortality of deities. He shows how the science of childhood religiosity reveals, across humanity, a “natural religion,” the organization of those beliefs that humans gravitate to organically, and how it underlies all of the world’s major religions, uniting them under one common source. For believers and nonbelievers alike, Barrett offers a compelling argument for the human instinct for religion, as he guides all parents in how to effectively encourage children in developing a healthy constellation of beliefs about the world around them.

Author : William N. Schoenfeld
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780962331152
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Religion and Human Behavior written by William N. Schoenfeld and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : E. Rae Harcum
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0761860452
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Principles of Psychology in Religious Context written by E. Rae Harcum and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book asserts that the better one understands the causes of behavior, the better one can apply that knowledge to produce a better world. It describes the mechanisms that cause human behavior, such as freedom of will, in a manner consistent with religious beliefs. It also asserts that all avenues for studying human behavior, like intuition and prayer, are acceptable and necessary. Thus, when studying the agent of human action, we must rely on faith, logic, and intuition, in addition to the full use of empirical science. Principles of Psychology for People of God begins with a description of the nervous system and continues with chapters on development, perception, internal states, learning, memory, and the ultimate selection of behaviors. Nevertheless, it steadfastly emphasizes that behavior is not produced by physical mechanisms alone, but also by a non-material spirit that can transcend some inheritances and environments.

Author : Vassilis Saroglou
Publisher : Psychology Press
ISBN 13 : 1136449841
Total Pages : 441 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Religion, Personality, and Social Behavior written by Vassilis Saroglou and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2013-07-24 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Psychological interest in religion, in terms of both theory and empirical research, has been constant since the beginning of psychology. However, since the beginning of the 21st Century, partially due to important social and political events and developments, interest in religion within personality and social psychology has increased. This volume reviews the accumulated research and theory on the major aspects of personality and social psychology as applied to religion. It provides a high quality integrative, systematic, and rigorous review of that work, with a focus on topics that are both central in personality and social psychology and have allowed for the accumulation of solid and replicated and not impressionist knowledge on religion. The contributors are renowned researchers in the field who offer an international perspective that is both illuminating, yet neutral, with respect to religion. The volume’s primary audience are academics, researchers, and advanced students in social psychology, but it will also interest those in sociology, political sciences, and anthropology.

Author : Nicholas Wade
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101155671
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Faith Instinct written by Nicholas Wade and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-11-12 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Noted science writer Nicholas Wade offers for the first time a convincing case based on a broad range of scientific evidence for the evolutionary basis of religion.

Author : Eckart Voland
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642001289
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior written by Eckart Voland and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-08-12 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.

Author : Patrick McNamara
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139483560
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Neuroscience of Religious Experience written by Patrick McNamara and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-06 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technical advances in the life and medical sciences have revolutionised our understanding of the brain, while the emerging disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions and emotional states associated with religious experience to underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religious beliefs and the reports of religious experiences across human cultures, while gesturing toward physical bases for these behaviours. What is missing from this literature is a strong voice speaking to these behavioural and social scientists - as well as to the intellectually curious in the religious studies community - from the perspective of a brain scientist.